Spring is the perfect time to cook from Béatrice Peltre's cookbook 'La Tartine Gourmande: Recipes for an Inspired Life' (Roost Books, 2012). Her French-influenced recipes and stories are fresh and colourful, and wonderfully presented. Peltre, originally from France and now living in Boston, Massachusetts with her husband Philip and daughter Lulu, has an approachable attitude towards food and cooking. As a food stylist, photographer and 2011 SAVEUR Best Food Blog Award-winning blogger, Peltre has honed the craft of presenting accessible recipes to her readers, accompanied by inspiring photos and personal stories.

"My blog [LaTartineGournamde.com] has always been a motor for everything I do. When I started in 2005, I really didn't have any intentions," she says. "But the support I received from my readers, and the fact that I was getting so much positive feedback, people wanting more of the specific stories that I was writing, really helped me to define the voice that the book has as well as the blog. And actually, what I really wanted to do is translate what you find on the blog, into a book."

Friends and family are central to Peltre's tales about food in both her cookbook and on her blog. In the introduction to her book, she goes back to the beginning of her love of food in the countryside in northeastern France: her 'obsession' with family gardens, collecting eggs at her grandmother's house and learning to cook by her mother's side. "I didn't understand it until much later but it's why I'm such a food-obsessed person," she says. "We talked about food all the time and to this day, when I call my mother in France, we're going to end up at some point in our conversation talking about something food-related. Whether it's a vegetable she's growing, whether she's been to a restaurant, what meal she's been making that day. It's always been very present in our lives."

Cooking and travel now go hand in hand for Peltre. She has a travel kit of cooking essentials that she never leaves home without. "People laugh about it but nobody complains once I'm there. They always say, 'You're crazy! Why are you taking your vegetable grater?' Well, you never know, you know," she says, laughing. "And I end up making good use of it!" Her kit includes a set of collapsible measuring cups, a vegetable grater, a vegetable peeler, a set of silicone baking cups, ring molds if she's planning to bake more elaborate cakes and gluten-free flours if she's going somewhere they may not be readily available. One occasional item speaks to her dedication - a juicer. "It was great," she says. "I remember being in a hotel making carrot juice and thinking, 'I love this! I have my carrot juice on site!'"

Peltre's travels to countries such as Italy, Australia and New Zealand, and her love of different cuisines and flavours have greatly influenced the kinds of dishes she cooks and recipes she develops. "I'm pretty sure to this day, my mother has never cooked with coconut milk," she says. "I love coconut milk, lemongrass, ginger… and that shows me that I learned by her side but I evolved as a cook because I've been exposed to many different things."

Twists on traditional favourites are evident throughout 'La Tartine Gourmande.' "I love to take the idea of a very traditional French recipe, maybe even something I loved as a kid, and change it," Peltre says. "There's a recipe in my cookbook for 'hachis parmentier,' which is basically the equivalent of shepherd's pie. So you have mashed potatoes and leftover ground meat, and my own version has coconut milk and chicken in it instead, which has been cooked with ginger and other flavours that you would never find in a traditional 'hachis parmentier.'"

Vegetables and fruit are the stars in 'La Tartine Gourmande,' with seafood, poultry and prosciutto making appearances in several dishes. "I eat meat now but I used to be a vegetarian for eight or ten years, and I think it shows in the kinds of ingredients that I choose because [the book is] heavy on vegetables and fruit and grains," Peltre says. "That's something I know well because I cooked for a big chunk of my adult life without meat. So I have my favourite ingredients that I use over and over."

Peltre's recipes use gluten-free flours such as millet and quinoa but she doesn't identify the cookbook as being simply 'gluten-free.' "I don't think, 'I cook gluten-free first.' I focus on celebrating food every day with beautiful things and they happen to be gluten-free," she says. Several of the recipes offer substitutions for all-purpose flour to accommodate what people are most likely to have in their pantries. For example, the French classic custard-like dessert, clafoutis (pronounced kla-foo-TEE), is presented in both savoury and sweet varieties with the sweet 'Cherry clafoutis' calling for millet flour and almond meal, and unconventional lime and coconut milk. For the purists, Peltre offers substitutions for the clafoutis her mother still bakes for her - cream instead of coconut milk and no lime, and all-purpose flour in place of the gluten-free varieties. Peltre is a self-professed clafoutis lover. "Coming to the U.S., I always took for granted that everybody knew what a clafoutis was," she says. "And then you say, 'I made a clafoutis.' 'You made what?' 'You don't know what a clafoutis is? Let me tell you!'"

For those in the Montreal area, Béatrice Peltre will be attending a book signing at Indigo, 1171 rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest, Montreal, Quebec on Friday, April 20, 2012 starting at 7 p.m. ET.

Tabouli is commonly prepared with couscous, but I prefer the salad when quinoa is used instead. The natural dye of beets adds a cheerful pink hue to this tabouli that makes the salad stand out on your plate. Add colourful cherry tomatoes picked right off the vine or bought at your local farmers' market, a handful of fresh herbs with lemon juice and olive oil, and you're guaranteed to have what I like to think of as the perfect summer lunch.

Note: If you want to give the quinoa extra flavour, use vegetable broth rather than water.

Serves 4 to 6

2 tablespoons pine nuts

1 cup (200 g; 7 oz) uncooked white quinoa

2 cups (475 ml) water or homemade vegetable broth

Sea salt

1 large cooked beet, peeled and diced

1 cup mixed cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1/4 red onion, finely chopped

3 oz (90 g) feta cheese, crumbled

For the vinaigrette:

Sea salt and pepper

Juice of 1 lemon or lime

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

1 tablespoon chopped chives

1 tablespoon chopped mint

Toast the pine nuts in a frying pan over medium heat for 2 minutes, or until lightly coloured and fragrant; remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Rinse the quinoa under cold water and drain it in a colander. Add it to a pot and cover with the water or broth and a pinch of sea salt. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat, cover, and simmer for 12 to 14 minutes, or until all of the water or broth is absorbed. Remove from the heat and keep covered for 5 more minutes. Transfer the quinoa to a bowl and fluff it with a fork; let cool. Add the beet and toss gently. The quinoa will take on a nice pink colour. Add the tomatoes, onion, and cheese.

To prepare the vinaigrette: In a small bowl, combine the sea salt and pepper with the lemon juice and oil, and whisk to emulsify. Stir in the herbs. Dress the salad with this vinaigrette and adjust the seasoning to your taste. Add more dressing if you like and serve with the pine nuts.

To cook the beet (unpeeled), you have two options: Add it to a pot of water, bring to a boil, and cook until it's easy to insert a knife in the middle. Or you can wrap it in aluminum foil and bake it in an oven preheated to 375ºF (190ºC). The cooking time depends on the size of the beet — it can take between 40 minutes and 1 hour — check regularly. Once cooked through, let cool before peeling the beet.

Arugula risotto with basil and lemon

At times, when I think about a risotto, I feel I must have been Italian in a previous life. Cooking this wonderful dish is inspiring - and much easier than most people think. Each time I make it, I find it fascinating to see how the dish evolves from dry rice into a creamy rich concoction, which is exquisite no matter what flavours and ingredients you end up using. I cooked this particular risotto for the first time to surprise my parents on their wedding anniversary. I had picked fresh herbs in my brother's fantastic vegetable garden - incomparable- and absolutely adored the aromas and simplicity of this elegant dish. Eating it is like having the scents of summer concentrated onto your plate. To dress the dish up even more, saute a few shrimp and serve them on top of the risotto.

In a pot, combine a large volume of water with a generous pinch of sea salt and bring to boil. Add the arugula and herbs and blanch them for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Rinse under cold water and let cool. Squeeze the excess water out of the herbs by pressing with the tips of your fingers and finely chop; set aside.

In the same pot, warm the vegetable stock; set aside.

In a heavy pot, heat the oil and butter over medium heat. Add the shallot, leek, and lemon zest and cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes, without browning, until soft and fragrant. Add the rice and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add the vermouth and cook, stirring, until the liquid is absorbed. Add 1 cup of broth and cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice has absorbed all the liquid. Add more broth and repeat. Watch that the heat is not too high so that the rice does not cook too quickly. Add the rest of the broth and the herbs, and continue to cook, stirring, until the herbs are well combined. Remove from the heat and stir in the mascarpone and the grated pecorino cheese. Season with pepper, cover, and set aside for 2 minutes.

Serve the risotto in shallow individual plates with a drizzle of oil and more grated pecorino cheese. Decorate with a few sprigs of parsley.

If you want to do some preparation ahead of time, you can freeze the cooked herbs. Once you have squeezed out the excess water, pack them tightly into an ice cube tray (makes 5 regular-size ice cubes). Add a little water and place in the freezer. There is no need to thaw the cubes before using them.

Cardamom-flavoured chocolate crème caramel

This attractive dessert is made for people like me and Philip who cannot resist anything described with words like "dark chocolate" and "custard." Maybe you are one of these people too? It offers a rich silky aromatic chocolate flan-like cream balanced by a light caramel sauce that you'll want to dip your fingers into.

Serves 6

You will need:

Six 6-ounce ramekins

Canola oil, for the ramekins

For the caramel:

1/2 cup (100 g: 3 1/2 oz) fine granulated white sugar

2 tablespoons cold water

1 tablespoon hot water

For the chocolate custard:

2 1/4 cups (530 ml) whole milk

1 vanilla bean, split open and seeds scraped out

5 green cardamom pods, crushed

3 oz (90 g) dark chocolate (70% cocoa)

3 large eggs

2 tablespoons blond cane sugar

Unsweetened cocoa powder, to dust

Oil six 6-ounce ramekins; set aside.

To prepare the caramel: Heat the sugar and cold water in a small pot. Swirl the pot in a circular movement so that the sugar absorbs the water. Bring to a boil, then simmer at a medium heat — do not stir the sugar at this point, although you can swirl the pot occasionally — and watch the caramel develop. It will be ready when it's golden in colour, which takes about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the hot water, and stir quickly. Pour the caramel into the oiled ramekins, making sure to coat the bottom and sides; set aside.

Preheat the oven to 300ºF (150ºC).

To prepare the custard: In a pot, combine the milk with the vanilla bean and seeds and cardamom pods and bring to a boil, making sure that it doesn't overflow. When it boils, remove from the heat and add the chocolate, whisking quickly so that the chocolate melts evenly. Cover and let infuse for 20 min¬utes. Discard the vanilla bean and cardamom, and using a fine sieve or chinois, strain the chocolate milk.

In the meantime, using a stand mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar for 1 minute. Pour the chocolate milk in and stir quickly. With a spoon, remove any foam that might have formed at the surface. Divide the chocolate custard among the 6 caramel-filled ramekins and place them in a water bath. Place the custards in the oven and cook for about 50 minutes. To check if they are ready, jiggle the ramekins a little — the centre of the cream should be almost set but not fully (they’ll finish setting once they cool down). Remove the ramekins from the oven and let cool com¬pletely. Cover each ramekin with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours, or overnight, until the custard is completely set.

To unmold the crème caramel easily, dip the ramekins in boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes, taking care to not let the water spill in. Run the blade of a knife between the custard and the edge of the ramekins. Turn onto a plate and serve with dusted cocoa on top.

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If you wear glasses, take them off. Dunk them in a puddle, shake ‘n’ bake them with some grit from the shoulder of the road, scrape away what you can with your glove, and then put them back on. That’s the view too many people believe is good enough to have through the windshield of their car.